White Stallion Energy Center

The White Stallion Energy Center is a proposed coal-fired power plant located outside of Bay City in Matagorda County, Texas.

On September 5, 2008, the White Stallion Energy Center Project filed an air quality permit application with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for a 1,320-megawatt, electric power generating station on a 1,200-acre tract on the Colorado river. The permit was awarded to the plant in September 2010.

The proposed plant will burn petroleum coke and coal. According to Randy Bird, White Stallion’s chief operating officer, the development phase is expected to be completed by the end of 2009, and the four to five year construction period would begin in spring 2010.

On March 13, 2009, the TCEQ issued a draft air permit for the White Stallion Energy Center. No public comment period will be held because White Stallion requested a direct referral to a contested case hearing.

In September 2010, Matagorda County's No Coal Coalition, along with Public Citizen and the Sierra Club, released a study finding that the White Stallion Energy Center is expected to lead to more than 600 premature deaths during its lifetime and add a cost burden to society of over $5 billion. The study was done by David Schoengold, of MSB Energy Associates, using the Abt Associates health impact estimator, a model used to evaluate the impacts of any proposed power plants on a county basis. According to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's Maximum Allowable Emission Rates table, White Stallion had the potential to emit the following significant pollutants over a 60-year lifetime: 4.956 tons per year of sulfur dioxide; 4,048 tons per year of nitrogen oxide; 1.176 tons per year of particulate matter PM2.5 (fine particle pollutant); 288 tons per year of VOC (volatile organic compounds); and 148 tons per year of ammonia, said Schoengold. The specific health impacts of White Stallion is listed by Schoengold are: 1,210 cases of acute bronchitis; 1,070 heart attacks; 13,500 cases of asthma exacerbation; 470 cases of chronic bronchitis; 770 asthma-related ER visits; 360 cardiovascular hospital admissions; 170 respiratory hospital admissions; 14,370 lower respiratory symptoms; 552,730 minor reduced activity days; 630 deaths; 10,840 upper respiratory symptoms; and 93,720 work loss days.

On September 30, 2010 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in Texas awarded the White Stallion Energy Plant an air permit which will allow construction of the plant to begin. Planners, however, will have to lower projected emissions of certain toxins, including particulate matter and sulfuric acid. In addition, the facility was yet to receive its operating and wastewater permits.

In May 2011 a Travis County in Texas judge ordered further review of the air-quality permit that Texas regulators had awarded it previously.

On June 15, 2011 it was announced that the Lower Colorado River Authority board delayed the decision on whether to grant a large water contract to the proposed White Stallion coal plant. The board heard testimony from people who live in the Colorado River basin. These individuals cited concerns about water availability and air pollution, and urged further study of the proposed 40-year contract. The board will consider the issue again on Aug. 10, 2011.

Project Details
Sponsor: White Stallion Energy Project Location: Port of Bay City, Matagorda County, TX Capacity: 1320 MW Type: Circulating fluidized bed Projected in service: First unit: 2013-2014, Second unit: 2015. Status: Proposed

Citizen Groups

 * Sustainable Energy & Economic Development Coalition, Karen Hadden, karen [at] seedcoalition.org
 * Texas Sierra Club, Neil Carman, neil_carman [at] greenbuilder.com
 * Texas Public Citizen, jcarraway [at] citizen.org

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Coal plant litigation
 * Texas and coal
 * United States and coal
 * Carbon Capture and Storage
 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * US proposed coal plants (both active and cancelled)
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2007
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2008
 * State-by-state guide to information on coal in the United States (or click on the map)